The Airmen and the Headhunters: A True Story of Lost Soldiers, Heroic Tribesmen and the Unlikeliest…

Paperback | January 15, 2009

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November 1944: Their B-24 bomber shot down on what should have been an easy mission off the Borneo coast, a scattered crew of Army airmen cut themselves loose from their parachutes-only to be met by loincloth-wearing natives silently materializing out of the mountainous jungle. Would these Dayak tribesmen turn the starving airmen over to the hostile Japanese occupiers? Or would the Dayaks risk vicious reprisals to get the airmen safely home in a desperate game of hide-and-seek?A cinematic survival story featuring a bamboo airstrip built on a rice paddy, a mad British major, and a blowpipe-wielding army that helped destroy one of the last Japanese strongholds, The Airmen and the Headhunters is also a gripping tale of wartime heroism unlike any other you have read.

About The Author

JUDITH M. HEIMANN is a career diplomat and the author of The Most Offending Soul Alive. She spent seven years living in Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines, and speaks Indonesian. She traveled to three continents and interviewed all the surviving Dayaks and airmen in her research for this book. She lives in Washington, D.C., and B...

ContentsPreface * 1ONE: A B-24 Over Borneo * 3TWO: Into the Jungle * 21THREE: The D.O.’s Dilemma * 35FOUR: Good-bye, Mister” * 57FIVE: Another Part of the Forest * 71SIX: Becoming Lun Dayeh * 81SEVEN: A Letter from the Japanese * 95EIGHT: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Times" Polecat Gulch * 109NINE: The Pangeran Forces the Pace * 131TEN: The D.O. Declares War * 147ELEVEN: The Navy Crashes In * 165TWELVE: Help from on High * 189THIRTEEN: SEMUT Finds Work for the Yanks * 205FOURTEEN: A Way Out * 225FIFTEEN: The Allies Arrive * 243

Acknowledgments * 263Glossary * 267A Note on Sources * 273Index * 281

Editorial Reviews

PRAISE FOR THE AIRMEN AND THE HEADHUNTERS With her title alone . . . Heimann rivets one's attention."- The Washington Post Book World "Heimann brings a visceral urgency to one of WWII's most unlikely tales . . . Along the way, she makes us-like the airmen-rethink our definitions of civilized and savage."- Entertainment Weekly "